


Make Do, Like Always

by wasthatafanfic



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Mutant Apocalypse, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-03-08 10:28:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13456329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wasthatafanfic/pseuds/wasthatafanfic
Summary: The world ended and they lost each other, now finally reunited and with oasis in sight it may finally be time to breathBut there are so many pieces to put back together, so many years of trauma to sort throughAnd what about the people they left behind?The Wasteland Warrior story left so so many things unexplained or completely ignored and ended so abruptly I started making up stuff to fill in the gaps and this is the result.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This first part has been updated to be longer, I started to split the beginning into two parts but just couldn't get the transition right so part 1 it is.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The other shoe drops and travel plans are discussed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of my headcanons for how Donnie and Raph have handled things were influenced by the fic [Day 0 and all the days after  by werepirechick](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12190092/chapters/27676461)go read it and their other work its all good

"We're going back." Donatello's tone left no room for argument as he continued what repairs he could on the shellraiser.

"You can't be serious" Raphael hissed as he followed his robotic brother as he circled the vehicle, their voices low and fierce trying to keep the rest of their group from overhearing the argument.

"Oh it's happening, I'd say I'll go alone but we both know you wouldn't stand for that,  _would you_?" The turtle bot gave the best pointed look his static face plate could manage.

"You wouldn't dare."

"YOU wouldn't chance it."

It didn’t take a cyber cortex for a brain to figure out Raphael 100% wanted to shoot the implied smirk off his robo face. He knew he'd won.

Raph knew he'd won.

Anything after this was just fighting the inevitable.

The red striped turtle let out a long groaning sigh as he slumped onto the bumper and buried his face in his hands.

"Just-  _Why_ are we going back to New York?"

At the 'we' Donatello positively radiated smugness, Raphael had accepted the loss and wouldn't put up anymore fuss.

"Because, that mutagen bomb messed Leo up, and probably  _still_  is. And Mikey is  _tiny_ , you notice that?I think he weighs  _less_  then he did when we were kids before everything went to shell!"

"But why New York!? It's sui-"

I'm technically dead, don't say suicide"

He only floundered for a moment before shooting back. 

"Fine, Stupid then, or how about pointless? Hopeless has a nice ring to it, how about that one."

Donatello sighed, antannae dropping along with his shoulders.

"Raph...I need diagnostic equipment, medical tools, Supplies we haven't needed in near a  **quarter of a century.** I've scrapped or traded off anything that could have helped me figure out whats going on. And New York is the  **only**  place I Know we'd have any chance of finding it."

The red striped turtle looked ready to argue but realized there wasn't any argument left. Not after earlier.

* * *

The proverbial other shoe had dropped early the next morning, not even having the decency to wait till everyone was awake.

Raphael had been dragged from an unexpectedly peaceful sleep by a feral roar and found an obviously out-of-his-head Leonardo, eyes glowing a sickly green, advancing on Michelangelo with murderous intent.

There was just barely enough warning for him to scramble to his feet and get between them, taking the blow meant for Mikey. It would hurt like shell come morning, but he was sure it would be far less damaging to him than if it had connected with its intended target.

Leo wasn't seeing them.

Raphael could tell he wasn't fighting his brothers right now, he was raging against demons only he could see, probably having followed him from his restless nightmares.

Fighting back wasn't going to help.

He talked him down, using himself as a blockade between predator and prey. Murmuring soft pleas and reminders and serving as buffer to his rage.

 It didn't take  _too_  terribly long for awareness to filter back into his gaze, extinguishing that unearthly green glow from his gaze and soon he was enough Leonardo was down at him in confusion. His gaze sliding past him to the concerned look on Michelangelo's face and and his defensive stance and horror had dawned as he realized what he'd almost done.

* * *

 "So what set off that whole mess this morning anyway?" Donatello was under the rig now, and a metal hand poked out expectantly along with the question, waiting for Raph to drop tools into it as needed.

Another sigh escaped him as he picked through the toolbag and dutifully dropped the needed one into Donnies grasp. Sometimes it felt like various sighs and groans made up most of their vocabulary.

"Apparently the Holy Chalupa thought waking a soundly sleeping ex-warlord to ask if he wanted him to start breakfast was a good idea."

There was a couple dull thunks and Raphael was pretty sure the bot had intentionally banged his head into the undercarriage a few times.

"Oh yeah, that’s a great idea, lets startle the guy who just came out of an extended _Dissasociative fugue state_ *ugh*. So, how'd everyone take things after?"

"Dude was hecka freaked out. Raph had to talk him down from tryin to run off."

There was another distinctly more sharp bang as Donnie for real hit his head this time trying to sit up without thinking. Raphael glanced under to see Donatello rubbing what was probably a new dent in his forehead and Mikey peeking back at him.

"Told us about the whole memory thing. That suuucckkksss."

"I thought you didn't want to talk about that yet?"

Raph shrugged "Seemed the time, he needed to know it's not like he's the only one who's screwed up. Seemed to work calmin him down."

"Did Raph really try to stab you six times cause he couldn't remember who you were?"

"Eight, actually."

"No, it was six."

Donatello had pulled himself out from under the rig by now and was about to argue when Raph added "The other two were cause of other stuff, mostly you were annoying me."

Michelangelo let the ensuing argument go for a few minutes, letting Donnies' inarticulate flailing and Raph's smug amusement fill him with a sense of nostalgia he hadn't gotten to experience in a long long time before he asked.

 "So, when are we leavin?"

They both stared at him for a moment before Mikey hit them  with an unimpressed glance.

"Dude, you have barely any sciencey stuff in the shellraiser. It's gotta be driving you crazy whats goin on with Leo - and me, don’t think I haven't noticed those little looks you keep throwin my way, - Not to mention your little whisperfight before you announced you were gonna work on repairs thinkin you were bein all sneaky bringin the argument over here." He gave them both an amused look "Ya'll ain't subtle."

Donatello considered denying it for a moment, but realized the futility of it and sighed, deciding to at least attempt deflection.

"Where's Leo, he know about all this too?"

"Yeah, we both figured it out. Said I'd come see whats up and he went to stare at the water and be  all brooding. Chompy and Ice cream kitty are with him so he won't run off and that Mira kids close by too. Pretending not to be waiting for a reason to fight him… And i'm still waiting on that answer yo."

Damn, not as easy to distract as he'd been when they were kids

"I can have everything repaired and ready inside 24 hours, especially if I go back into the labyrinth and scavenger from our last fight, can see if anyone's still there too and if they're on our side could show them the way back here. If  I can collect enough fuel from the destroyed vehicles and we drive straight through we can be in New York in at most 4 days."

They didn't expect him to burst out laughing and exchanged concerned looks.

 "Dudes, I've been trying to get back to New York for T **wentyfive years** to find **you** guys!" Gasping for air between giggles Mikey finally got out "Of **COURSE** I finally find you and now I'll manage to make it back!" He wiped tears from his eyes as he finally managed to calm himself. "Welp, lets get this party started robobro! Just tell me what we gotta do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So close to the bit I really wanted If anyone has any ideas, questions, comments, or stuff they want to see I 100% want to hear it
> 
> Sidenotes:  
> *They never say in the actual eps but i saw somewhere it's been 50 years since the Mbomb but i'm cutting it down to 25 years.  
> * Raph's mostly teasing about the 2 stabs, they were both during fights against raiders and the only way to get them off Donnie was to go through him.
> 
> If anyone has any ideas, questions, comments, or stuff they want to see I 100% want to hear it!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New York, Ground Zero, Home, whatever they called it its their best bet for a better future.

They'd driven three days straight.

 Raphael and Donatello swapping off driving, the other sleeping or recharging for their next turn so stops could be kept to an absolute minimum. Leonardo had been fine with being left out of the rotation, admitting he was still in no shape mentally to take the wheel while Michelangelo had put up a weak fight but ultimately relented. After all they'd been the ones handing the rig for the past 25 years and  k new its particulars now, like Donatello knew the back of his manufactured shell.

Now the city lay before them. Desiccated  ruins jutting into the sky like the bones of a great decayed corpse. 

Donatello's antennae were pressed flat back as he dryly quipped "Home sweet home."

"Is it just me, or is everything kinda…greenish?" Michelangelo looked more than a little nervous at the sight before them, and with good reason.

"It is, the M-bomb left permanent after effects here. The whole city s still contaminated. We shouldn't stay long.Extended exposure won't turn out well…" Donatello explained, sensors going crazy over the readings he was picking up from the area and regret bubbled up for long past choices.  After the initial blast, they'd stayed within the city for  _months_ as Raphael healed and Donatello tried to find their missing siblings and come to terms with his new robotic existence. All that time, all that exposure he'd subjected Raph to even if unknowingly. 

Raphael knew that thousand yard stare and nudged past the purple lit bot to shake him out of another guilt trip.

"Don't."

"I am not doing anything." Donatello responded primly.

"Are to o , you're getting all caught up in feeling guilty about stuff you couldn't have controled and stuck in your head. Honestly I'd rather you ranting."

"I'm fine."

"Sure. And I've got a didetic memory."

"Didactic."

"Exactly."

For once it was Leonardo that spoke up into the silence. 

"So whats the plan?"

"Yeah bro's we headin home?"

Mikey looked hopeful but deflated as Donatello shook his head. 

"Not yet, I cleared out nearly everything useful from my lab when we left the first time. Good chunk of that got traded off afterwards for stuff we needed more anyway."

"Then where?" Leo asked, a feeling was steadily creeping up that the answer wasn't going to be one he liked.

Purple eye lights scanned the horizon, both literally and metaphorically as he gathered bearings and finally pointed.

"The TCRI building, it's the only place I can think of that maybe still has what I'm looking for."

"Is that safe?" Mikey asked worriedly childhood memories rearing up of past traumas at the site.

"Maybe? It's not like there'll be any krang there, so we'll mostly have to worry about any Feral's that may have broken in or automated defense systems. "

"Oh, so the easy stuff." His deadpan delivery dropped into snorted laughter at the disbelieving looks being shot his way.

* * *

The Shellraiser was able to take them within four blocks of their destination, only downed buildings and long abandoned cars  making the path unpassable for the armored vehicle. 

Those blocks flashed by in a series of frantic but swift battles with the bulbous, deformed, and deranged feral mutants, the sad remains of those exposed to the M-bomb and transformed  _wrong_ or simply lost their minds in the change.

As he tazed another down,  Donatello reflected on the soul crushing guilt fighting these creatures had once brought him, the sick feeling of self condemnation that had risen up every time he was forced to put one down to keep himself and his brother safe.

He'd had a considerable amount of time to get over it though, and what had once been all devouring had become an uncomfortable niggle in the back of his programing.

The last of the immediate threats taken care of he scaled higher up a earby downed building, trying to maximize the limited readings his scanners could give him  in the confined city.

"I think our friends got the message guys, everything I'm picking up is now keeping its distance."

Dropping back down he slid to ground level again. 

"Hopefully they'll give us some space for a little bit. How you holding up?"

He made it sound like a general inquiry but it was pretty obvious he was directing it at one turtle in partiular, the dull glow buiding in Leonardo's eyes was concerning.

"Fine." the gruff, short answer didn't help Donatello's concern, nor his heavy breaths but he realized pushing wasn't going to help ,  so let it drop. He'd just have to trust  if things got bad enough his big brother would have the sense to say something, or if nothing else that the warning signs of another outburst would be obvious enough to give them time to react.

* * *

And of course It took all of fifteen minutes from that thought to cross his processors for a fight to break out between Raph and Leo when the red masked turtle directed Leo and Mikey to  watch the entrance while he and Donnie would venture into TCRI to search for supplies. The row that followed was second only in intensity to the one that had followed Donatello's suggestion that their oldest and youngest siblings should stay behind with Mira in Oasis.

Then, like now, Leonardo's objections boiled down to outright refusing to allow them to be separated again. Mira staying behind with chompy and ICK and the survivors of their final fight were one thing but his brothers were staying close  _from now on_ . That particular disagreement hadn't gotten very bad as they'd caved almost instantly.

Over the years, Donatello had been impressed by how much of a handle his brother had gotten on his anger issues. Sure he was still grumpy but that couldn't be helped, their situation sort of really sucked. He no longer flew off the handle, a once explosive temper had turned to a slow boil that he had no problem tucking away to use later when needed.

Leonardo had apparently suffered the opposite shift in temperament over the years and as the argument turned more and more heated he seriously started to wonder if he was going to have to taze his oldest brother.

This time wasn't looking so promising as Raphael stood his ground, Leo's temper ramping up with every counter argument he shot back.

" ** _LEO_ ** !"

The sudden rise in volume brought everything to a screeching halt as Raph stared him down.

"I  _NEED_  you watching our backs bro. That little show we put on gettin here isn't going to keep those ferals away for long. You and Mikey have to be ready for when they come to buy us time to get out." a thumb was hiked Donnies way "No to mention this dorkbot has had the better part of nearly three decades to train me to figure out his half nonsense directions when it comes to scavenging science junk."

Mikey snorted, Donnie tsked, and Leo seemed to finally start to listen.

"Fine," He finally caved "but be quick, and don't lose communication!"

"The Tphone is literally a part of my programing, not much can break the connection. we won't be long Leo I swear."

The fire was finally fizzling out, lights of his eyes fading back to their natural blue.

"Just... just be careful. Okay?"

"Always, Fearless."

* * *

Abandoned, but somehow still with power, the halls of TCRI remained bright and sterile. halls littered with robot bodies and krang skeletons. A morbid reminder of how utterly the alien creatures had failed in terraforming the planet to meet their needs. The M-bomb making the planet even less hospitable for them then it had started out.

The automated security system pinged them within minutes of them leaving the fake office front. But a few well aimed shots brought them down as they came.

"You know what I do remember?" Raphael asked as he dropped another automated sentry with a flick of his sai. An antenna flicked up questioningly as he punted another out of the way.

"I remember these things being a lot  _tougher_ when we were kids."

"Hah!  Y eah me too, then again, you are like twice as strong as you were and  I 'm a robot sooo..."

"Well I'm sure not complaining, where to next?"

"Should be this way if  I'm remembering correctly, but we were sort of focused on other things last time we were here so not the best files for review." A door was forced open and Donatello headed straight to the central terminal. "Mind checking for any usable supplies while I tap the database?"

He shrugged and began browsing the rest of the cavernous room, the e erie  panels containing black green brackish liquids. Most panels were empty or shattered, the contents long having dried away leaving uncomfortable looking stains on the floor. Raphael took each one in in turn, a distant memory niggling at the back of his mind as he did. Someone he'd forgotten, someone important, someone...

"Donnie, get over here. _**NOW**_!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So while these guys are in New York, Mira is ruling over Oasis and the survivors of the 3 factions involved in that final fight on Raph and Leo's say so with snipercat ice cream kitty and fire breathing space turtle Chompy at her sides and the mental image of that untold story pleases me.
> 
> If anyone has any ideas, questions, comments, or stuff they want to see I am begging you share cause I want to hear it!


	3. Chapter 3

The two figures were suspended in perfectly clear black-green fluid. Each in their own panel, a soft light illuminating their still features from below.

Their eyes were closed, bodies slack as they floated in an endless void. Long hair, red and black, shifted listlessly about their unconscious faces as within them sluggish dreams  smudged abstract whorls of memories as fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends, gain and losses and trauma and triumph and past and once present and future and round and round and round.

Slowly, so slowly, all flowed and melded and melted through their suspended minds.

They'd been lost to this endless in-between for eons.

They'd been lost in this finite nothing for mere moments.

Over and over and over their final moments played out. Their last goodbyes to their four friends, a final stand (a final fall) to buy enough time for the desperate hope that maybe just _one more time_  they'd saved the world before their own worlds went black.

* * *

"Raph, I can't believe it, it-it's really them"

"But can you get them out?"

"Already on it, stand back."

* * *

With a sickening suddenness the muddled void wrenched away, replaced with light and gravity and choking thick liquid from ill used lungs.

The world swam as everything was suddenly too bright, too loud, too real as she was hacking green gunk over a previously pristinely sterile white floor.

Someone was pulling back her hair, someone was hacking with equal desperation somewhere to her side, someone was talking comforting words and it took an agonizingly long time for the shrill screech that had filled her hearing to settle enough to understand what they were saying.

"-onna be alright Casey, get everything out. Can't believe it's really you."

Familiar, the voice was so familiar. Deeper and rougher than her memories but as she struggled to bring her vision back into focus she found that both the speaker and the figure it hunched over before her were equally familiar-yet-not

"April?"

Searching for the newest voice, the source of which had moments ago held her now much longer hair back and now knelt beside her with a comforting hand on her shoulder.

They, too, were familiar but off but as her gaze met the purple glow of mechanical optics set into a blank metal face her stomach dropped because she _knew_.

"Donnie? W-" even her own voice was strange "What happened?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the shortest chapter ever but April and Casey surviving is the main reason I started this fic so I needed to at least post this much T_T

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I need to add a note that I'm only loosely following established canon , making up most of it, and tossing some entirely in the bin. As is per usual for my fic writing.
> 
> If anyone has any ideas, questions, comments, or stuff they want to see I 100% want to hear it
> 
> For right now this fic is gonna be a perma cliff hanger because i can't remember where I'd planned to go with it from here. If i ever find the plot thread again ill continue on but for now it's all I've got


End file.
